How to quit sugar
This is a campaign. There is no “one” right way.
If you’re reading these words, I want to say, you “get” it.
Sugar.
It keeps coming back, doesn’t it? You just “go crazy”, don’t you? Not always. But sometimes. Okay, more than you will even admit.
And it’s everywhere. We’ve been trained to have it ever since before we were born. Even in our womb, our mother ate tons of sugar. She was a sugar addict!
We are all addicts. This society breeds addictive behaviors. And no one escapes.
So this means to do anything that is worthwhile, you have to work at it. And you have to be smart. You do “smart” things.
And take it serious. You don’t “laugh” before you study for an exam that you’re going to ace.
This is the same thing.
This is a chess match
And can you imagine how it will feel to never have to touch sugar again? There are people who have done it. Who just don’t need it.
And you can be one of these people, too.
Here is the algorithm. Let’s rock it out.
THE LIST
So you just need to have a list of ways to quit. Hang it up on the wall.
Kind of like this one:
Get plenty of sleep
A UC Berkeley study found that sleepless nights makes us “more likely to reach for doughnuts or pizza”. Their functional MRI brain scans found impaired activity in the frontal lobes of the brains of 23 young adults after they didn’t get enough sleep.
The frontal lobe is the part that is in charge of decision making. They also found increased activity in the reward centers of the brain. These “high calorie foods” were “significantly more desirable” when participants were sleep-deprived.
So make sure to go to bed 30 minutes earlier! Don’t forget to take a power nap in the day!
Plus, according to the Pomorodo method, you should be taking rest breaks every 25 minutes. And then on the fourth break, you need to take a half hour nap. This means you need to take 2 half hour power naps per day!
One in the late morning, and one in the afternoon! Usually people get their cravings in the late afternoon. Right around 3:30-6. So you should plan appropriately to take your power nap – if this is the case for you, at 3pm. This will be before you get the craving!
Fruits + Fat
When you first make the cut from sugar, make sure you supply yourself up with tons of fruit. Go crazy on it. And let yourself eat as much as you want.
If you have a breakdown, and need to eat actual sugar – that’s fine. But make sure you actually eat the fruit as well.
This is like giving up cigarettes. Yes, sugar is that potent. And when you give up cigarettes, one great way is to use the gum. This fruit is basically the gum.
So with cigarettes, if you’re going to have a “screw up” and have a cigarette, then that’s fine. Just make sure you have your gum as well. Now you’re going to get a double dose.
You might need to do both at the beginning. But after a little bit, you just won’t need to have the actual nicotine. Or sugar, in this case.
So here’s some great ideas for snack fruit and fat pairings:
Rasberries and low-fat plain yogurt
Apples and low-fat cheddar cheese
Tangerines and cashews
Bananas and choose a nut of your choice. If peanuts are hard to digest, some people soak them overnight in water.
APPLES, BABY
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Keep them stocked up and within easy reach!
Spend a lot of time in the car? Then take them with you out to the car!
Realize: that the sugar craving will go away after you eat an apple. Within 10 minutes you will be back to normal. And if you’re not, you’ll go exercise. And that will fix it.
SHOP ON A FULL STOMACH
Or, in our case, we drive around a lot! And that’s when we see “the food”. So for us – and if you’re like us – make sure to drive around on a full stomach.
This includes shopping on Instacart – do it on a full stomach! This is because experts say that when we’re shopping, and we’re hungry, that it’s just a lot harder to stay focused on our goals.
MAKE A GOAL and HANG IT UP!
“I will not eat refined sugar, starting on this date of November 6, 2021.”
MAKE A LIST OF REASONS
It helps to create a list of reasons, as well. Hang these up, with your goal, and your plan, so where you can see it everyday:
Sugar causes high blood pressure, inflammation, and heart disease.
Sugar causes massive weight gain.
Sugar causes Type 2 Diabetes. A population study in over 175 countries found that diabetes risk grew by 1.1% for every 150 calories of sugar. This means every 1 can of soda per day.
Sugar causes CANCER. This is what cancer eats and needs to live off of.
A study in over 430,000 people found that added sugar consumption was associated to an increased risk of esophageal cancer, and other types as well.
Sugar causes DEPRESSION. This is because sugar causes huge blood sugar swings, neurotransmitter dysregulation, and massive inflammation in the body.
Sugar causes CROW’S feet. Looking older is no fun.
Sugar causes AGING. Eating sugar causes telomeres to shorten, which speeds up our cell aging and makes them malfunction.
Sugar makes you TIRED and DRAINS YOUR ENERGY. It gives a quick spike of energy and then is quickly followed by a crash. It’s much smarter to stay at high energy throughout the day without the need for a dopamine hit.
Sugar greatly increases your risk of getting a ROOT CANAL. Who likes these? This is because it destroys your teeth and causes cavities.
Sugar increases DEMENTIA and ALZHEIMER’S.
THE ATTITUDE
You are fighting a war. This is a poison that is going to poison your kids, your family, and you over the next 20 years.
So let’s not let that happen.
DRINK TEA and SODA WATER (La Croix)
You just have to get through that small period of the day when “the craving” takes place. Drinking some tea and soda water will help you make it happen!
CHEW ON SUGAR FREE GUM
Spearmint or cinnamon Spry gums works just great. Get one of those big vats off of Amazon. And just chew that gum and make some tea every time you feel the craving. And this will get you back on track.
GO FOR A WALK and EXERCISE!
Feeling that craving coming on? It hurts, doesn’t it? The evil craving! The big one!
Don’t worry! This is the solution.
Here’s what I did yesterday: I said, “I’m feeling the craving. This means I’m going to go for a walk outside!”
However, getting myself to exercise was hard. Because I didn’t feel like it.
So I put on my favorite scene from “Miracle”, and then I went out and walked around with my headphones.
(“Rocky” always works, too.)
The great part about this is that I actually forgot that I had a sugar craving.
The point is – it WORKED.
Then I came back and made some popcorn and we put on a movie! What a fun way to end the day!
RINSE. REPEAT.
The key, is to keep going over this. Rewrite your sugar goals regularly. Rewrite your reasons why not to eat sugar regularly.
We need to recondition the mind over and over, like a piano string that needs to be retuned.
It has to be written down.
Doing this daily is an extremely smart idea. Some people do this with their goals. They actually write down their top 10 goals, first thing to start the morning, because it gives them a burst of focus every single day.
The same thing applies here. Every day, find an article about why sugar totally sucks, and then write down your list of reasons why you’re not going to eat that poison.
You’ll notice that I write a lot of blogs on quitting sugar! This is no coincidence.
It’s something I’m addicted to, and being addicted to me is the most disgusting thing I can possibly be.
Especially when sugar destroys not only the physical body but the mental as well. And so for me, I have made it my mission to not eat refined sugar.
Which means I write blogs regularly on not eating sugar.
Discuss this with a counselor.
Still having problems? A counselor, especially one who is rooted in life coaching, can help you get your eating on track. And it helps to be held accountable to someone. And to talk about and explain what you’re going through and to create a game plan. Because you don’t want to get cancer. And that’s where sugar leads.
One of our great Missoula therapists here at Sunflower Counseling, who has a background in life coaching, is Katie O’Neill.